Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone (, ; Shoshoni orthography: Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe, newe ta̲i̲kwappe or neme ta̲i̲kwappeh), is a Uto-Aztecan language from the Numic branch spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshone. Shoshoni is primarily spoken in the Great Basin in areas of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.
The phonemes of Shoshoni are few, but a wide range of allophones appear in the spoken language. The language has six vowels distinctions (including one that is underlyingly a diphthong), which are each also distinguished by length. Shoshoni is strongly suffixing, inflecting nouns for number and case, and distinguishes verbs for aspect and tense. Word order is relatively free, but shows a preference toward subject–object–verb word order order.
The endonyms newe ta̲i̲kwappe and Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe mean "the people's language" and "the Shoshoni language", respectively. Shoshoni is classified as threatened, although attempts at language revitalization are underway.
Classification and dialects
Shoshoni is the northernmost member of the large Uto-Aztecan language family, with the Northern Shoshone living in the Snake River plain of southern Idaho. This family includes nearly sixty living languages, which are spoken in Western United States, are centered in Mexico, and have branches in El Salvador in the very northernmost part of South America. The homeland of its common ancestor was likely Aridoamerica, which includes parts of northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States.
Shoshoni belongs to the Numic subbranch of Uto-Aztecan, which is associated with the historical Aridoamerica cultural region. The term Numic derives from cognates in all Numic languages denoting "person". For example, in Shoshoni the word is neme or, depending on the dialect, newe , in Timbisha it is nümü , and in Southern Paiute, nuwuvi .
Shoshoni's closest relatives are the Central Numic languages Timbisha and Comanche. Timbisha, or Panamint, is spoken in southeastern California near Death Valley by members of the Timbisha, but it is considered a distinct language from Shoshoni. The Comanche split from the Shoshone around 1700, and consonant changes over the past few centuries have limited the mutual intelligibility of Comanche and Shoshoni.
Principal dialects of Shoshoni are Western Shoshoni in Nevada, Gosiute in western Utah, Northern Shoshoni in southern Idaho and northern Utah, and Eastern Shoshoni in Wyoming. The main differences between these dialects are phonological.
Status The number of people who speak Shoshoni has been steadily dwindling since the late 20th century. In the early 21st century, fluent speakers number only several hundred to a few thousand people, while an additional population of about 1,000 know the language to some degree but are not fluent. The Duck Valley and Gosiute communities have established programs to teach the language to their children. Ethnologue lists Shoshoni as "threatened" as it notes that many of the speakers are 50 and older. UNESCO has classified the Shoshoni language as "severely endangered" in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. The language is still being taught to children in a small number of isolated locations. The tribes have a strong interest in language revitalization, but efforts to preserve the language are scattered, with little coordination. However, literacy in Shoshoni is increasing. Shoshoni dictionaries have been published and portions of the Bible were translated in 1986.
As of 2012, Idaho State University offers elementary, intermediate, and conversational Shoshoni language classes, in a 20-year project to preserve the language. Open-source Shosoni audio is available online to complement classroom instruction, as part of the university's long-standing Shoshoni Language Project.
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribe teaches Shoshoni to its children and adults as part of its Language and Culture Preservation Program. On the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, elders have been active in digital language archiving. Shoshoni is taught using Dr. Steven Greymorning's Accelerated Second Language Acquisition techniques.
A summer program known as the Shoshone/Goshute Youth Language Apprenticeship Program (SYLAP), held at the University of Utah's Center for American Indian Languages since 2009, has been featured on NPR's Weekend Edition. Shoshoni youth serve as interns, assisting with digitization of Shoshoni language recordings and documentation from the Wick R. Miller collection, in order to make the materials available for tribal members. The program released the first Shoshone language video game in August 2013.
In July 2012, Blackfoot High School in Southeastern Idaho announced it would offer Shoshoni language classes. The Chief Tahgee Elementary Academy, a Shoshone-Bannock charter school teaching English and Shoshoni, opened at Fort Hall in 2013.
Phonology
Vowels Shoshoni has a typical Numic vowel inventory of five vowels. In addition, there is the common diphthong , which functions as a simple vowel and varies rather freely with ; however, certain morphemes always contain and others always contain . All vowels occur as short or long, but / is rare.
Front Back High Mid Low
Consonants Shoshoni has a typical Numic consonant inventory. Bilabial Coronal Palatal Velar Glottal plain Nasal Stop Affricate Fricative Semivowel
Syllable structure Shoshoni syllables are of the form (C)V(V)(C). For instance: nɨkka "dance" (CVC CV), ɨkkoi "sleep" (VC CVV), and paa "water" (CVV). Shoshoni does not allow onset clusters.
Typical Shoshoni roots are of the form CV(V)CV(V). Examples include kasa "wing" and papi "older brother".
Stress Stress in Shoshoni is regular but not distinctive. Primary stress usually falls on the first syllable (more specifically, the first mora) of a word; however, primary stress tends to fall on the second syllable if that syllable is long. For instance, natsattamahkantɨn [ˈnazattamaxandɨ] "tied up" bears primary stress on the first syllable; however, kottoohkwa "made a fire" bears primary stress on the second syllable, with long vowel , instead of the first syllable with short vowel .
As in other Numic languages, stress in Shoshoni is distributed based on mora-counting. Short Shoshoni vowels have one mora, while long vowels and vowel clusters ending in have two morae. Following the primary stress, every other mora receives secondary stress. If stress falls on the second mora in a long vowel, the stress is transferred to the first mora in the long vowel and mora counting continues from there. For example, natsattamahkantɨn "tied up" bears the stress pattern , with stress falling on every other mora.
With some dialectical variation, mora counting resets at the border between stems in compound words. Final syllables need not be stressed and may undergo optional final vowel devoicing.
Phonological processes Given here are a few examples of regular, well-documented phonological rules in Shoshoni:
Short, unclustered, unstressed vowels, when part of final syllables and followed by , are devoiced. These same vowels, when preceded by , are usually devoiced. These processes represent Shoshoni "organic devoicing". For instance, tɨkkahkwan → "ate up". Final vowels may be devoiced optionally, representing Shoshoni "inorganic devoicing". If the final vowel is devoiced, the long or short consonant preceding it is also devoiced. Thus, kammu → "jackrabbit". Stops, affricates, and nasals are voiced and lenited between vowels. The stops and affricate become voiced fricatives; the nasals become nasalized glides. Thus papi → "brother", tatsa → "summer", and imaa → "tomorrow". Stops, affricates, and nasals are lenited, but remain unvoiced, when they are preceded by underlying . This is deleted in the surface form. Thus, paikkahkwa → "killed". Stops, affricates, and nasals are voiced when part of an intervocalic nasal cluster. Thus, pampi → "head" and wantsi → "antelope".
Morphology Shoshoni is a synthetic, agglutinative language, in which words, especially verbs, tend to be complex with several morphemes strung together. Shoshoni is a primarily suffixing language.
Nouns
Absolutive suffixes Many nouns in Shoshoni have an absolutive suffix (unrelated to the absolutive case). The absolutive suffix is normally dropped when the noun is the first element in a compound, when the noun is followed by a suffix or postposition, or when the noun is incorporated into a verb. For instance, the independent noun sɨhɨpin "willow" has the absolutive suffix -pin; the root loses this suffix in the form sɨhɨykwi "to gather willows". The correlation between any particular noun stem and which of the seven absolutive suffixes it has is irregular and unpredictable. The absolutive suffixes are as follows:
-pin -ppɨh -ppɨ -pittsih, -pittsɨh -mpih -pai -ttsih
Number and case Shoshoni is a nominative-accusative language. Shoshoni nouns inflect for three cases (subjective, objective, and possessive) and for three numbers (singular, dual, and plural).
Number is marked by suffixes on all human nouns and optionally on other animate nouns. The regular suffixes for number are listed in the table below. The Shoshoni singular is unmarked. Number Singular Dual PluralCase Subjective Ø -nɨwɨh-nɨɨn ObjectiveØ-nihi-nii Possessive Ø -nɨhɨn -nɨɨn Case is also marked by suffixes, which vary depending on the noun. Subjective case is unmarked. Many nouns also have a zero objective case marker; other possible objective markers are -tta, -a, and -i. These suffixes correspond with the possessive case markers -n, -ttan or -n, -an, or -n (in Western Shoshoni; this last suffix also appears as -an in Gosiute and is replaced by -in in Northern Shoshoni). These case markers can be predicted only to a degree based on phonology of the noun stem.
Derivational morphology Nominal derivational morphology is also often achieved through suffixing. For instance, the instrumental suffix -(n)nompɨh is used with verb stems to form nouns used for the purpose of the verb: katɨnnompɨh "chair" is derived from katɨ "sit"; puinompɨh "binoculars" is derived from pui "see". The characterization suffix -kantɨn be used with a root noun to derive a noun characterized by the root: hupiakantɨn "singer" is derived from hupia "song"; puhakantɨn "shaman" is derived from puha "power", as one characterized by power.
Verbs
Number Shoshoni verbs may mark for number, mainly through reduplication or suppletion. The dual is commonly marked through reduplication of the first syllable of the verb stem, so that singular kimma "come" becomes kikimma in the dual (and remains kima in the plural). A suppletive form is often used for the dual or plural forms of the verb; for instance, singular yaa "carry" becomes hima in both the dual and plural. Suppletion and reduplication frequently work in tandem to express number: singular nukki "run" becomes the reduplicated nunukki in the dual and the suppleted nutaa in the plural; singular yɨtsɨ "fly" is reduplicated, suppleted dual yoyoti and suppleted plural yoti.
Instrumental prefixes Shoshoni uses prefixes to add a specific instrumental element to a verb. For instance, the instrumental prefix to- '"with the hand or fist" can be used with the verb tsima "scrape" to yield tottsima "wipe", as in pɨn puihkatti tottsimma yakaitɨn "he wiped at his eyes, crying".
Common instrumental prefixes include:
kɨ"- "with the teeth or mouth" ku"- "by heat" ma- "with a non-grasping hand" mu"- "with the nose or front of body" ni"- "with the voice" pi"- "with the buttocks or back of body" sɨ"- "by cold" sun- "with the mind" ta"- "with the feet" ta"- "with a hard instrument or rock" to"- "with the hand or fist" tsa"- "with a grasping hand" tsi"- "with a sharp point" tso"- "with the head" wɨ"- "with a long instrument or body"; generic instrumental
Syntax
Word order Subject-object-verb (SOV) is the typical word order for Shoshoni.